Most Americans never want to admit that some things in America are not as good as they are in other countries.

We keep hearing growing up that it's the greatest country in the world, but most people have never been able to PERSONALLY benchmark anything American against anything else.

Most Americans cannot fathom that health care may be better in other parts of the world. They cannot fathom that there might be graduate schools that are better in other parts of the world. People think that the only good doctors in the world are in the U.S. Best cars? Electronics (Apple excluded)? Internet service? Trains? Airlines? Actors? Movies?

The public education system sucks in the U.S. Parents are gigantic vaginas and are responsible for this utter failure of an education ecosystem. They're too concerned with bitching about stupid stuff that doesn't even matter like prayer, pledge of allegiance, evolution, etc. "I'm not gonna allow anyone to tell my kid that he/she should _____" It's like STFU bitch! Your kid doesn't even know where Russia is! Tell your punk ass kid "Cody" that he can't ever leave the house until he gets a B average on his next report card and maybe the US can regain the #1 slot in the world again.

The good thing is that all the US has to do to make up for it is to relax some visa rules so we can actually get smart, skilled people into the labor force. Of course this will piss off most Americans and of course we'll have a spike in racism/anti-immigrant sentiment.

Thanks for the mini-rant and generalization of Americans. Very insightful and enlightening.

Michelle Rhee, then chancellor of D.C. schools, took a special interest in Noyes. She touted the school, which now serves preschoolers through eighth-graders, as an example of how the sweeping changes she championed could transform even the lowest-performing Washington schools. Twice in three years, she rewarded Noyes' staff for boosting scores: In 2008 and again in 2010, each teacher won an $8,000 bonus, and the principal won $10,000.

A closer look at Noyes, however, raises questions about its test scores from 2006 to 2010. Its proficiency rates rose at a much faster rate than the average for D.C. schools. Then, in 2010, when scores dipped for most of the district's elementary schools, Noyes' proficiency rates fell further than average.

A USA TODAY investigation, based on documents and data secured under D.C.'s Freedom of Information Act, found that for the past three school years most of Noyes' classrooms had extraordinarily high numbers of erasures on standardized tests. The consistent pattern was that wrong answers were erased and changed to right ones.

It's funny b/c the US has never been all that great at math, even in the 1960s we were about 10th. Math and reading scores have improved dramatically since then, just not enough to keep pace with the rest of the world.

Also, the high number of ELLs are certainly a factor, as Kuros noted, which would certainly skew those reading scores.

Improving math scores would certainly help everybody involved of course, which is hard to do with so many single parent households.

American schools are a shining star compared to schools in Thailand and that includes international schools in Thailand except for maybe 4 or 5 of the top ones.

The Dawn is coming for American schools as educators and the public and politicians are realizing the moral imperative of focusing on and implementing high quality instructional practices. The most important thing is to focus on the quality of the instruction and choosing 6 or so high impact programs to focus on. It is mostly the teachers and the learning culture at schools that make significant impacts on student learning.

"And by this measure, the U.S. education system, while certainly in need of significant progress, doesn't look to be failing so spectacularly. The performance of American students in science and math has actually improved modestly since the last round of this international test in 2006, rising to the developed-country average in science while remaining only slightly below average in math."

that isn't a dire situation? americans JUST rised to the developed country average in science and are still BELOW in math when they think they are the alpha developed country? almost all american education is horrid and those who know how rigorous other countries educate their young can easily compare the disparities and see america's further decline down the rungs of the international relevance ladder. yes, it is that serious and a truly spectacular failure.

someone else noted that 37% of african american children in california are dropouts. if 37% tried that in korea, japan, or china there would be heads rolling.

The article compares the USA to the OECD as a whole - the PISA rankings take in countries like Mexico, Brazil and Russia. The USA, like the UK, should be looking to compete with the most highly developed nations.

Stay in school, get a new CamaroTexas student rewarded for attendance and good grades

FORT WORTH, Texas — Northwest ISD is motivating students to stay in school with an annual car giveaway.

A lucky North Texas high school student won the keys to a 2011 Chevy Camaro for making good grades and showing up to class.

The prize left Kenzie Deaton speechless.

"It's just coming out as crying and happiness," Deaton said. "I thought I was stuck with my mom's car."

Wow. Must have sucked for the kid who was the runner-up.

While I know something about the education system, I would say that things have been improving somewhat, but not fast enough. It also depends where the gains are being made.

You have to consider that American students are often more spoiled than their Western European counterparts. There are serious behavioral issues. In some areas, people have a difficult time teaching, and it's not because the instructors are not literate enough. Many of the students are not intrinsically motivated.

As far as the large drop-out rate amongst anyone regardless of color, one has to enforce truancy laws rather strictly at a young age.

My parents told me my high school has changed. Shockingly, 40% of students are now tardy to their first class. The school called parents who - get this - complained that the family was too poor to buy an alarm clock, among other excuses. The school is now CALLING these problem kids at 7:30am to get them out of bed! And I have blamed Korea for hand-holding! If the school doesnt improve grades, they lose federal money.

I will bet you most of these families have an LCD flatscreen and a Wii, or similar gaming system. Aparently, the prices of alarm clocks are far higher than these necessities.

Most Americans never want to admit that some things in America are not as good as they are in other countries.

We keep hearing growing up that it's the greatest country in the world, but most people have never been able to PERSONALLY benchmark anything American against anything else.

Most Americans cannot fathom that health care may be better in other parts of the world. They cannot fathom that there might be graduate schools that are better in other parts of the world. People think that the only good doctors in the world are in the U.S. Best cars? Electronics (Apple excluded)? Internet service? Trains? Airlines? Actors? Movies?

The public education system sucks in the U.S. Parents are gigantic vaginas and are responsible for this utter failure of an education ecosystem. They're too concerned with bitching about stupid stuff that doesn't even matter like prayer, pledge of allegiance, evolution, etc. "I'm not gonna allow anyone to tell my kid that he/she should _____" It's like STFU bitch! Your kid doesn't even know where Russia is! Tell your punk ass kid "Cody" that he can't ever leave the house until he gets a B average on his next report card and maybe the US can regain the #1 slot in the world again.

The good thing is that all the US has to do to make up for it is to relax some visa rules so we can actually get smart, skilled people into the labor force. Of course this will piss off most Americans and of course we'll have a spike in racism/anti-immigrant sentiment.

Personally, I hope some people continue to stereotype Americans this way. It keeps those stereotyping from concentrating on their own country's problems, while the USA stays on top.